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Five Quick Thoughts From Thunder-Lakers

1) World Peace will pay. Metta World Peace will be suspended. You can count on that. I don’t know how many games his vicious blow to the head of James Harden will command. But you can expect World Peace to pay the price. The consensus among media members, players and executives here at Staples Center is that Artest will be suspended five games at a minimum. Regardless of what World Peace said after the game, it was a cheap shot. It looked to be intentional, and he’ll have to suffer the consequences of letting his emotions get the best of him.

2) This was a bad loss. There’s no way around it. The fight the Thunder showed in both overtimes means absolutely nothing. Unless, of course, you believe in moral victories. It shouldn’t even be brought up. The way the Thunder collapsed — again — in the second half was unbelievable. OKC was ahead 79-62 with 10 1/2 minutes left. And lost. In the fourth quarter and overtime, the Thunder went 9-of-36 from the field and was outscored 53-29. It’s the third straight defeat in which the Thunder collapsed in the second half. Consider the Thunder’s inability to close a full blown problem. We’re not talking about sealing the deal against cupcakes, or even against playoff teams with nothing to play for. When the stakes have been high, and messages are being sent, the Thunder has struggled to finish. At this point, there is little reason to believe that won’t change eventually come playoff time.

3) The stars have got to step up. Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook can’t combine to shoot 14-of-56. I don’t care if it’s against the Bobcats. There’s no way those two should have that much of an off night on the same night. Westbrook took questionable shots from the start. Durant simply took way too many jumpers. With James Harden KO’d with a concussion, all the heavy lifting was on KD and Westbrook’s shoulders. And neither stopped settling for jump shots until it was too late. Durant in particular got a ton of quality shots. But until the Thunder learns to consistently pass up good shots for great shots (especially when the good ones aren’t falling), OKC will continue to struggle in times like these. Notice what Kobe Bryant did tonight? He drove and dished to Pau Gasol. He made the extra pass to Steve Blake. He forced the action and got the shot he wanted instead of the shot the Thunder’s defense allowed him to take. That’s where Durant and Westbrook need to get. We’ve seen it at times. But consistency is key.

4) Kendrick Perkins’ D was incredible. Add this one to Perk’s season resume. He shut down Andrew Bynum to the point that Lakers coach Mike Brown had no choice but to bench the big man in favor of the more effective Jordan Hill. Bynum finished with 10 points on 5-of-15 shooting. But he scored just six points on 3-of-8 shooting against Perk. Of those three shots by Bynum, one was a dunk off an offensive rebound in which Perk had to cover Gasol, one was a 17-foot jumper from the top of the key and the other was a reverse slam in which Bynum got free from Perk. You couldn’t have asked for a better defensive effort by Perk tonight.

5) The 2-ssed suits the Thunder. Even after the Lakers’ impressive comeback (or was it the Thunder’s monumental collapse?), did you see anything in L.A. that frightened you? Me neither. The Thunder is built to beat the Lakers. Plain and simple. If, of course, OKC can get past (presumably) Dallas in the first round. For as flawed as this team has been, and continues to be, the dominoes have fallen in such a way that the Thunder has as clear of a path as it can get to the Western Conference Finals at the very least. The Mavs still have a shot to beat the Thunder, but the Lakers in the second round could be a six-game series. Maybe even five. Kobe has proven to be a good option defensively on Westbrook. But the Lakers still would have to account for Harden and Durant, while Perk and Serge Ibaka have shown they can handle Bynum and Gasol. It would be an entertaining series, but the Thunder should advance.

-DM-

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The following comments are archived from the original publication of this post

Willo (Australia)on Apr 24, 2012 @ 12:52 am

^^ Especially when most of these people have only been fans of basketball for 4 years.

Toddon Apr 23, 2012 @ 8:40 pm

"But you can expect World Peace to pay the price." Doesn't world peace always pay the price? And I see we're graced with several NBA head coaches here who know exactly what to do, and exactly what goes on in the Thunder's huddle, practices, and locker rooms. Aren't we lucky.

Zaneon Apr 23, 2012 @ 7:16 pm

Agree with Bert and Charles. On a bad shooting night Brooks will tell them "don't worry guys, you'll hit the big shot. We're going to win this game." Really Brooks? And I feel like we've said "that's not going to happen again" ,about shots not falling, a few too many times this year.

TDon Apr 23, 2012 @ 3:54 pm

"The 2-ssed suits the Thunder." Think you mean "seed" not "ssed." ?

charleson Apr 23, 2012 @ 2:41 pm

Ditto! bertfan! Brooks failing to adjust, is much Stoops like!

bertfanon Apr 23, 2012 @ 1:31 pm

I just don't get why Brooks isn't telling KD to drive it inside, these players will do what the coach will tell them to do, so to me it's on Brooks again. We've seen again Brooks' inability to adapt to a game situation. The guy is so paralysed into his set rotations it almost doesn't happen what happens during the game. Might as well have a robot on the sideline that will tell you after the game "oh well shots didn't fall tonight".

Willo (Australia)on Apr 23, 2012 @ 7:45 am

*I should say going inside and passing the ball.

Willo (Australia)on Apr 23, 2012 @ 7:37 am

Hey DM, no the Thunder should not have lost, but seriously the Lakers have Kobe and he has done that to teams time and time again. The man is friggin phenominal, give him some credit. The Thunder has the Lakers number though, if they do meet in the playoffs I would say it would be a sweep or 4-1. Easy! Bad collapse, Kobe was huge. Time to get a nice couple wins to finish (even though Denver WILL NOT be easy) and finish off strong. It's playoff time baby! The best time of the year. #Thundeup How does someone that caused Malice @ The Palace win a sportsmanship award, shouldn't that make the award null and void to you for the rest of time. Artest is a joke, hope James is not effected to badly as we need him just as much as KD and RW. One more thing: The Thunder lost because they stopped going inside, plain and simple. You need to stop so many iso plays for KD and RW (especially if they keep not working). I swear I didn't see RW shoot a friggin balanced jump shot all night. Can he smell the playoffs? Are we going to see a repeat of last year? I hope I'm wrong in thinking Y..ee..a..maybe...hh.

Vinnyon Apr 23, 2012 @ 7:11 am

You know who would take it to the basket and get to the line? Harden. And they missed his play-making down the stretch as well. I swore KD was going to go off with no Ron Artest out there to defend him. Too much Kobe in the end though.

McCallon Apr 23, 2012 @ 6:54 am

We need a goon on the squad to take out Artest should we meet again... *thinks* Cole Aldrich? :-/ The late-game collapses against playoff teams UGH... This team is starting to look like the old Heat team that couldn't execute down the stretch. For the life of me, I can't understand why two dudes who shoot above 80% from the line wont drive more. GET TO THE LINE!!! KD's clutchness is in question now. I wanted a KD, Kobe show-down toward the end. His inability to put the team on his back and takeover is why he won't get my MVP vote.

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